Cooperation among established multilateral organizations has been static, with little to no progress in macroeconomic policy governance and collaboration.

While the international multilateral institutions hold a great responsibility to ensure a crisis the magnitude of the last does not occur again, we must also invest our efforts in growth as well as stability. Beyond addressing sovereign debt restructuring with a new strong framework, efforts are lacking in the inclusion of emerging economies and the development of ways to meet concrete targets. Greece stepped dangerously close to the edge of a financial cliff recently, exposing an unresolved debt situation that has lingered for several years now.

The IMF Quota Reform process remains delayed, providing further indication of a stagnant environment in macroeconomic coordination.

The Turkish G20 presidency has expressed macroeconomic priorities of investment, employment, and trade, with a focus on small and medium enterprises. It remains to be seen what will come out of this year’s G20 summit.

In the last year there have been signs of minimal progress in international coordination on financial regulation. Financial regulators continue to work towards a number of critical reforms, but a number of key targets have not been met yet, including the G20 agenda to reform over-the-counter derivatives by 2012.

Shadow banking reforms remain behind schedule but work is ongoing. The Turkish G-20 presidency has prioritized finalizing the regulatory framework with the goal of full and consistent implementation during their Presidency. The FSB is particularly concerned with the slow and uneven implementation of reforms to OTC derivatives markets, including transaction and trade reporting, as well as central clearing and organized platform trading for standardized transactions.

The IMF reform package endorsed by the G20 leaders in Seoul in November 2010 remains on ice as US Congress has not ratified it yet.

The successful conclusion of the TPP negotiations is indicative of progress in trade governance. The agreement, reached on October 5, hit an important moment of opportunity just prior to the elections in Canada in mid-October and upcoming US elections next year.

Regarding RCEP, Beijing hopes to finish negotiations this year, and the recent signing of the FTA between South Korea and China was perhaps a stepping stone for RCEP discussions. If agreed, the RCEP would link the 10 ASEAN member nations with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea, and would account for a third of global gross domestic product.

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the EU signed last year is nearing approval, pending ratification from the European parliament and EU member countries and Canadian federal and provincial approval, expected in 2016.

TTIP negotiations continue, and progress has been made regarding regulatory cooperation within the proposed agreement. This year talks have been moving more slowly than expected, in a large part due to issues surrounding food and agricultural interests, as well as dispute resolution. With 150,000 people marching against TTIP in Berlin, it is important to acknowledge the current public opinion regarding the trade partnership. EU consumer and citizen support for TTIP remains low, particularly in Germany. As talks continue, the goal remains to complete TTIP negotiations by the end of 2016; perhaps an ambitious goal given current public sentiment.

There has been some progress in climate change governance, and the recent US-China agreement could signal further progress. The “ambitious but achievable” jointly announced goals demonstrate encouraging developments in addressing climate issues. A new climate agreement expected from the December 2015 Paris Climate Conference would set a framework and precedence for a future, more binding and global climate agreement expected in 2020.